Many people thought the government had used the disease as an excuse to keep them from voting, and some of their anger turned against the outside groups that had drawn so much attention to Ebola. She urged medical teams to treat Ebola patients “as humans and not as a biothreat.”She blamed not the communities, but the responders, for failing to win people’s trust. “They hear constant advice to wash their hands, but nothing about the lack of soap and water,” Dr. Liu said. Dr. Liu said aid groups needed to offer help in ways the community would accept, even if it meant helping families to safely care for Ebola patients at home, or giving them information and equipment to carry out safe burials on their own . The key to stopping past epidemics had been to isolate the sick and track everyone who might have been exposed, until there were no more new cases.

Source: New York Times March 07, 2019 17:14 UTC